Credit debt fiasco – give credit to Bill Janklow
It was 1980. Bill Janklow was governor of South Dakota. Citibank was bleeding money. So Citibank called up Gov. Janklow.
Janklow managed to move all but open ended usury law through the SD legislature.
And the American people started taking a financial beating on credit card debt. Miss that one payment or even come up short on a payment and BOOM, astronomical interest is applied.
Janklow is the master of excuses. In this case he said it was about jobs for South Dakota. When he ran a stop sign and killed a biker he claimed some type of diabetic shock. Had he committed matricide no doubt it would have been his mother’s fault.
The credit industry was ecstatic. And common Americans who can neither decipher the legalese let alone read the fine print without magnification have been on the hook ever since.
That suckers are born everyday is a well accepted fact, and so it may be argued it’s the card holders own damn fault.
But the card industry is guilty of subverting the financial welfare of these debtors with outrageous usury rates.
That Americans are in difficult financial straits is no surprise when DEREGULATION comes into play.
Where’s the Chamber of Commerce when you need them to protect the “demand” side of the equation?
Best guess in the backroom with the likes of Janklow and his ilk.
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